Cartons and sheet material products for use in the fast food industry are well known. Such cartons or sheet material products typically include a tray or lower portion and a lid or top portion which is hingedly connected to the lower portion. The cartons are typically formed from a simple paperboard blank which is suitably pre-cut and pre-scored and which when folded and assembled forms a clamshell type of container. Such containers are widely used for hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fish sandwiches and the like. However, such containers do not generally provide for condiments and sauce for finger foods such as chicken nuggets, popcorn shrimp, french fries, onion rings, and the like that are frequently served in paper board trays. These trays have flat bottom walls and side walls that extend upwardly therefrom at an angle that define a top opening larger than the bottom wall. Further, many of the aforementioned foods are frequently eaten with condiments such as ketchup, cocktail sauce, barbecue sauce etc.
Since finger foods are frequently eaten with ones fingers, a person typically holds a food item in their fingers and dips it into a condiment. When eating in a sit down restaurant, the condiments are dispensed directly onto a plate or a tub of the condiment or served in a separate container that can be placed on a table next to the consumer. However, when consuming such products in an automobile or while walking, it becomes difficult to use condiments. One must either pour a large quantity of condiments directly onto the food product or use one hand to carry the tray and a second hand to carry a tub of condiment. A user must therefore juggle the condiment and tray in order to dip and eat the food.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a novel structure for a clamshell container that includes one or more compartments that can be used to hold one or more condiment separate from a food product. The invention also contemplates a one-piece carton blank that is adapted to be folded into a clamshell container for a food product and a dipping sauce holder.